The financial industry has historically played an important role in the economy of every society. Banks mobilise funds from investors and apply them to investments in trade and business.

The history of banking is long and varied, with the financial system as we know it today directly descending from Florentine bankers of the 14th – 17th century. However, even before the invention of money, people used to deposit valuables such as grain, cattle and agricultural implements and, at a later stage, precious metals such as gold for safekeeping with religious temples.

Around the 5th century BC, the ancient Greeks started to include investments in their banking operations. Temples still offered safe-keeping, but other entities started to offer financial transactions including loans, deposits, exchange of currency and validation of coins. Financial services were typically offered against the payment of a flat fee or, for investments, against a share of the profit.

The views of philosophers and theologians on interest have always ranged from an absolute prohibition to the prohibition of usurious or excess interest only, with a bias towards the absolute prohibition of any form of interest. The first foreign exchange contract in 1156 AD was not just executed to facilitate the exchange of one currency for another at a forward date, but also because profits from time differences in a foreign exchange contract were not covered by canon laws against usury. In a time when financial contracts were largely governed by Christian beliefs prohibiting interest on the basis that it would be a sin to pay back more or less than what was lent, this was a major advantage.

Islamic finance is growing exponentially, and accountants need to understand the principles underlying this previously niche market. This paper by Dr Natalie Schoon from the Financial Services Review August 2008 examines and looks a the history of Islamic Finance.